In this trusted customer service classic, the renowned business training and consulting services practice Performance Research Associates, Inc. lays bare the truth all companies have come to accept but few know what to do with: companies that emphasize customer service make more money and keep customers longer than those that don't. For over two decades, Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service has combined this timeless wisdom with powerful tools, real-world examples, and the latest methods to provide customer service professionals an indispensable guide. With lighthearted examples and to-the-point solutions, the book provides readers with proven tips and strategies for exceeding customer needs and expectations, determining the right times to bend or break the rules, becoming fantastic fixers and powerful problem-solvers, using the RATER factors to wow your customers, understanding cultural and generational differences, and coping effectively with your most challenging customers. Plus, the revised fifth edition delivers new information on using social media for communication and service recovery, owning service encounters, responding positively to negative feedback, and more.What is quality customer service--and how do you consistently deliver it for your customers? Discover the answers in this go-to guide for helping customer service professionals deliver outstanding service that keeps customers coming back.
Who would’ve thought that a practical, fun, easy-to-read customer service book would capture the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers? Now, celebrating its 20th anniversary, Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service has been completely revised and is better than ever! Still the go-to guide on providing the kind of outstanding service that keeps customers coming back, the fifth edition combines powerful tools and techniques with real-world examples and all-new chapters on using social media for communication and service recovery, owning service encounters, responding positively to negative feedback, and more. The book provides readers with proven tips and strategies for: • Exceeding customer needs and expectations • Determining the right times to bend or break the rules • Becoming fantastic fixers and powerful problem-solvers • Using the RATER factors to wow your customers • Understanding cultural and generational differences • Becoming a listening post • Coping effectively with “customers from hell” With people surrounded by more choices and information than ever before, true customer loyalty has become increasingly difficult to attain. Combining timeless wisdom and up-to-the-minute methods, Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service is the book no customer service professional can afford to be without.
Today's customers are demanding service that is faster, better, and more personalized than ever before. How can organizations ensure that they are prepared to meet that challenge? The latest addition to the bestselling Knock Your Socks Off Service® series, 101 Activities for Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service provides readers with the practical tools and cost-effective training required to meet their customers' needs. Written in the same accessible and humorous style that made Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service so popular, this companion guide takes the unique position of seeing things from the customer's perspective--providing a collection of fun, fast, and enlightening exercises to teach customer service managers and employees valuable ways to help their organizations provide top-notch service. You'll discover how to create an action plan for improvement, reviewing topics such as: how to say no, empathy vs. sympathy, service recovery, listening, email and telephone skills, customers from hell, winning words and soothing phrases, anticipating customer needs, building reliability, customer feedback, keeping a stress log, and more. These simple but effective activities take only minutes, but deliver truly powerful, lasting results.
Pay for performance" has become a buzzword for the 1990s, as U.S. organizations seek ways to boost employee productivity. The new emphasis on performance appraisal and merit pay calls for a thorough examination of their effectiveness. Pay for Performance is the best resource to date on the issues of whether these concepts work and how they can be applied most effectively in the workplace. This important book looks at performance appraisal and pay practices in the private sector and describes whetherâ€"and howâ€"private industry experience is relevant to federal pay reform. It focuses on the needs of the federal government, exploring how the federal pay system evolved; available evidence on federal employee attitudes toward their work, their pay, and their reputation with the public; and the complicating and pervasive factor of politics.
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) is a household survey conducted periodically by the Department of Education that evaluates the literacy skills of a sample of adults in the United Stages ages 16 and older. NAAL results are used to characterize adults' literacy skills and to inform policy and programmatic decisions. The Committee on Performance Levels for Adult Literacy was convened at the Department's request for assistance in determining a means for booking assessment results that would be useful and understandable for NAAL'S many varied audiences. Through a process detailed in the book, the committee determined that five performance level categories should be used to characterize adults' literacy skills: nonliterate in English, below basic literacy, basic literacy, intermediate literacy, and advanced literacy. This book documents the process the committee used to determine these performance categories, estimates the percentages of adults whose literacy skills fall into each category, recommends ways to communicate about adults' literacy skills based on NAAL, and makes suggestions for ways to improve future assessments of adult literacy.
In this trusted customer service classic, the renowned business training and consulting services practice Performance Research Associates, Inc. lays bare the truth all companies have come to accept but few know what to do with: companies that emphasize customer service make more money and keep customers longer than those that don't. For over two decades, Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service has combined this timeless wisdom with powerful tools, real-world examples, and the latest methods to provide customer service professionals an indispensable guide. With lighthearted examples and to-the-point solutions, the book provides readers with proven tips and strategies for exceeding customer needs and expectations, determining the right times to bend or break the rules, becoming fantastic fixers and powerful problem-solvers, using the RATER factors to wow your customers, understanding cultural and generational differences, and coping effectively with your most challenging customers. Plus, the revised fifth edition delivers new information on using social media for communication and service recovery, owning service encounters, responding positively to negative feedback, and more.What is quality customer service--and how do you consistently deliver it for your customers? Discover the answers in this go-to guide for helping customer service professionals deliver outstanding service that keeps customers coming back.
The design, construction, operation, and retrofit of buildings is evolving in response to ever-increasing knowledge about the impact of indoor environments on people and the impact of buildings on the environment. Research has shown that the quality of indoor environments can affect the health, safety, and productivity of the people who occupy them. Buildings are also resource intensive, accounting for 40 percent of primary energy use in the United States, 12 percent of water consumption, and 60 percent of all non-industrial waste. The processes for producing electricity at power plants and delivering it for use in buildings account for 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. federal government manages approximately 429,000 buildings of many types with a total square footage of 3.34 billion worldwide, of which about 80 percent is owned space. More than 30 individual departments and agencies are responsible for managing these buildings. The characteristics of each agency's portfolio of facilities are determined by its mission and its programs. In 2010, GSA's Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings asked the National Academies to appoint an ad hoc committee of experts to conduct a public workshop and prepare a report that identified strategies and approaches for achieving a range of objectives associated with high-performance green federal buildings. Achieving High-Performance Federal Facilities identifies examples of important initiatives taking place and available resources. The report explores how these examples could be used to help make sustainability the preferred choice at all levels of decision making. Achieving High-Performance Federal Facilities can serve as a valuable guide federal agencies with differing missions, types of facilities, and operating procedures.
Prepared by the Task Committee on Instrumentation and Monitoring Dam Performance of the Hydropower Committee of the Energy Division of ASCE. This report is a handy and comprehensive source of information for dam owners, engineers, and regulators about instrumentation and measurements for monitoring performance of all types of dams. It presents the methodology and process for the selection, measurement instruments and techniques, installation, operation, maintenance, use, and evaluation of instrumentation and measurement systems for dams, appurtenant structures, their foundations, and environment. Topics include: factors affecting dam performance, means and methods of monitoring dam performance, planning and implementation of a monitoring program, data evaluation and reporting, and decision making. Case histories of instrumentation and monitoring programs at specific dams are provided for the reader. Product Review "I highly recommend this comprehensive reference on instrumentation used to evaluate dam performance. All owners, engineers, and regulators of dams should own a copy of this book." ?Fred Sage, Field Branch Chief, California Division of Safety of Dams
Medicare's Quality Improvement Organization Program is the second book in the new Pathways to Quality Health Care series. Focusing on performance improvement, it considers the history, role, and effectiveness of the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) program and its potential to promote quality improvement within a changing health care delivery environment that includes standardized performance measures and new data collection and reporting requirements. This book carefully examines the QIOs that serve every state as well as the national program that guides and supports them. In addition, it highlights the important roles that a national program with private organizations in each state can play in promoting higher quality care. Medicare's Quality Improvement Organization Program looks closely at the technical assistance role of the QIO program and the need to encourage and support providers to improve their performance. By providing an in-depth assessment of the federal experience with quality improvement and recommendations for program improvement, this book helps point the way for those who strive to create higher quality and better value in health care. Intended for multiple audiences, Medicare's Quality Improvement Organization Program is essential reading for members of Congress, the federal executive branch, the QIOs, health care providers and clinicians, and stakeholder groups.
Prepared by the Technical Committee on Performance of Structures during Construction of the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE. This report presents the current design practiceØfor diaphragm walls, with an emphasis on the most effective techniques. It provides an overview of various approaches to diaphragm wall design and presents several successful techniques used in Boston's Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel (CA/T) Project, a massive civil engineering effort thatØemployed more than three million square feet of diaphragm walls. This report focuses attention on the importance of techniques that take soil-structure interactions into consideration.
The nation's physical infrastructure facilitates movement of people and goods; provides safe water; provides energy when and where needed; removes wastes; enables rapid communications; and generally supports our economy and quality of life. Developing a framework for guiding attempts at measuring the performance of infrastructure systems and grappling with the concept of defining good performance are the major themes of this book. Focusing on urban regions, within a context of national policy, the volume provides the basis for further in-depth analysis and application at the local, regional, state, and national levels.
President Carter's 1980 declaration of a state of emergency at Love Canal, New York, recognized that residents' health had been affected by nearby chemical waste sites. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, enacted in 1976, ushered in a new era of waste management disposal designed to protect the public from harm. It required that modern waste containment systems use "engineered" barriers designed to isolate hazardous and toxic wastes and prevent them from seeping into the environment. These containment systems are now employed at thousands of waste sites around the United States, and their effectiveness must be continually monitored. Assessment of the Performance of Engineered Waste Containment Barriers assesses the performance of waste containment barriers to date. Existing data suggest that waste containment systems with liners and covers, when constructed and maintained in accordance with current regulations, are performing well thus far. However, they have not been in existence long enough to assess long-term (postclosure) performance, which may extend for hundreds of years. The book makes recommendations on how to improve future assessments and increase confidence in predictions of barrier system performance which will be of interest to policy makers, environmental interest groups, industrial waste producers, and industrial waste management industry.
Pay for performance" has become a buzzword for the 1990s, as U.S. organizations seek ways to boost employee productivity. The new emphasis on performance appraisal and merit pay calls for a thorough examination of their effectiveness. Pay for Performance is the best resource to date on the issues of whether these concepts work and how they can be applied most effectively in the workplace. This important book looks at performance appraisal and pay practices in the private sector and describes whetherâ€"and howâ€"private industry experience is relevant to federal pay reform. It focuses on the needs of the federal government, exploring how the federal pay system evolved; available evidence on federal employee attitudes toward their work, their pay, and their reputation with the public; and the complicating and pervasive factor of politics.
Drawing on the findings of sector-specific workshops, e-mail surveys, research literature, expert testimony, and committee and panel members' expertise, this National Academy of Engineering study assesses the qualitative impact of academic research on five industriesâ€"network systems and communications; medical devices and equipment; aerospace; transportation, distribution, and logistics services; and financial services. The book documents the range and significance of academic research contributions to the five industriesâ€"comparing the importance of different types of contributions, the multi- and interdisciplinary nature of these contributions, and the multiple vectors by which academic research is linked to each industry. The book calls for action to address six cross-cutting challenges to university-industry interactions: the growing disciplinary and time-horizon-related imbalances in federal R&D funding, barriers to university-industry interaction in service industries, the critical role of academic research in the advancement of information technology, the role of academic research in the regulation of industry, the impact of technology transfer activities on core university research and education missions, and the search for new pathways and mechanisms to enhance the contributions of academic research to industry. The book also includes findings and recommendations specific to each industry.
Military use of advanced polymer matrix composites (PMC)â€"consisting of a resin matrix reinforced by high-performance carbon or organic fibersâ€"while extensive, accounts for less that 10 percent of the domestic market. Nevertheless, advanced composites are expected to play an even greater role in future military systems, and DOD will continue to require access to reliable sources of affordable, high-performance fibers including commercial materials and manufacturing processes. As a result of these forecasts, DOD requested the NRC to assess the challenges and opportunities associated with advanced PMCs with emphasis on high-performance fibers. This report provides an assessment of fiber technology and industries, a discussion of R&D opportunities for DOD, and recommendations about accelerating technology transition, reducing costs, and improving understanding of design methodology and promising technologies.
Performance Measurement is the first in a new series of an ongoing effort by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to improve health care quality. Performance Measurement offers a comprehensive review of available measures and introduces a new framework to examine these measures against the six aims of the health care system: health care should be safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. This new book also addresses the gaps in performance measurement and introduces the need for measures that are longitudinal, comprehensive, population-based, and patient-centered. This book is directed toward all concerned with improving the quality and performance of the nation's health care system in its multiple dimensions and in both the public and private sectors.
Who would’ve thought that a practical, fun, easy-to-read customer service book would capture the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers? Now, celebrating its 20th anniversary, Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service has been completely revised and is better than ever! Still the go-to guide on providing the kind of outstanding service that keeps customers coming back, the fifth edition combines powerful tools and techniques with real-world examples and all-new chapters on using social media for communication and service recovery, owning service encounters, responding positively to negative feedback, and more. The book provides readers with proven tips and strategies for: • Exceeding customer needs and expectations • Determining the right times to bend or break the rules • Becoming fantastic fixers and powerful problem-solvers • Using the RATER factors to wow your customers • Understanding cultural and generational differences • Becoming a listening post • Coping effectively with “customers from hell” With people surrounded by more choices and information than ever before, true customer loyalty has become increasingly difficult to attain. Combining timeless wisdom and up-to-the-minute methods, Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service is the book no customer service professional can afford to be without.
The third installment in the Pathways to Quality Health Care series, Rewarding Provider Performance: Aligning Incentives in Medicare, continues to address the timely topic of the quality of health care in America. Each volume in the series effectively evaluates specific policy approaches within the context of improving the current operational framework of the health care system. The theme of this particular book is the staged introduction of pay for performance into Medicare. Pay for performance is a strategy that financially rewards health care providers for delivering high-quality care. Building on the findings and recommendations described in the two companion editions, Performance Measurement and Medicare's Quality Improvement Organization Program, this book offers options for implementing payment incentives to provide better value for America's health care investments. This book features conclusions and recommendations that will be useful to all stakeholders concerned with improving the quality and performance of the nation's health care system in both the public and private sectors.
High performance synthetic fibers are key components of composite materialsâ€"a class of materials vital for U.S. military technology and for the civilian economy. This book addresses the major research and development opportunities for present and future structural composite applications and identifies steps that could be taken to accelerate the commercialization of this critical fiber technology in the United States. The book stresses the need for redesigning university curricula to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of fiber science and technology. It also urges much greater government and industry cooperation in support of academic instruction and research and development in fiber-related disciplines.
Today’s customers are demanding service that is faster, better, and more personalized than ever before. How can organizations ensure that they are prepared to meet that challenge? The latest addition to the best-selling Knock Your Socks Off Service® series, 101 Activities for Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service provides readers with the practical tools and cost-effective training required to help meet their customers’ needs. Taking the unique position of seeing things from the customer’s perspective, this collection of fun and enlightening exercises teaches customer service managers and employees valuable ways to help their organizations provide world-class service, and helps them create an action plan for improvement. Written in the same accessible and humorous style that made Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service so popular, this companion guide covers such topics as: • how to say no • empathy vs. sympathy • service recovery • listening • email • telephone skills • customers from hell • winning words and soothing phrases • anticipting customer needs • building reliability • customer feedback • keeping a stress log • and more These simple but effective activities take only minutes, but deliver truly powerful, lasting results.
The U.S. economy is highly dynamic: businesses open and close, workers switch jobs and start new enterprises, and innovative technologies redefine the workplace and enhance productivity. With globalization markets have also become more interconnected. Measuring business activity in this rapidly evolving environment increasingly requires tracking complex interactions among firms, establishments, employers, and employees. Understanding Business Dynamics presents strategies for improving the accuracy, timeliness, coverage, and integration of data that are used in constructing aggregate economic statistics, as well as in microlevel analyses of topics ranging from job creation and destruction and firm entry and exit to innovation and productivity. This book offers recommendations that could be enacted by federal statistical agencies to modernize the measurement of business dynamics, particularly the production of information on small and young firms that can have a disproportionately large impact in rapidly expanding economic sectors. It also outlines the need for effective coordination of existing survey and administrative data sources, which is essential to improving the depth and coverage of business data.
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